Sunday, December 11, 2011

Responding to Questions About Why God Allows Bad Things to Happen to Good People


Having served as a minister for more than 20 years, I have often been asked why God allows bad things to happen to good people. I have never really had a good answer for this question. I have some partial answers, which I do share with those who ask, but those answers often seem inadequate to the immense pain of many situations.

A few months ago one of my Facebook friends took up this subject in a post. David Wesley Gould is the pastor at Nashville First Wesleyan Church. Pastor Gould says that when he is asked "Why does God let bad things happen to good people?" he responds with the question: "Who are the good people we are talking about?" Pastor Gould is not being insensitive, he is simply seeking to help us accept reality. Theologically, there are NO good people (Romans 3:10, 12, 23). Though some of us may live better than others, none of us live as well as God has asked us to live. Therefore, none of us are really “good.” I know some of us are uncomfortable with this line of thinking, but if we are honest, we would have to admit that since none of us are perfect, none of us deserve a perfect life. Therefore, any good thing that happens to us, must be seen as a gift from a good God who chooses to bless us even when we do not deserve it.

In his post, Pastor Gould asks another thought provoking question. "Why wouldn't bad things happen to people who are in a bad world?" Even if we wanted to argue that we are “good” people, none of us would argue that we live in a “good” world. The world we live in is cursed by sin (Genesis 3). Even if we wanted to argue that “some” people are “good,” we would have to admit that many people are “bad.” Many would agree that a few people are beyond bad, they are evil. Therefore, the actions of the many bad people, and a few evil people, make our world a difficult place to live. Why do we think that we should somehow be exempt from the normal suffering that comes from living in such a messed up world? When viewed from this perspective, we once again must see any good thing that happens to us a gift from a good God who chooses to bless us in spite of the curse of sin that prevails in the world around us.

Finally, Pastor Gould asks one more thought provoking question: "Why does God allow good things to happen to bad people in a bad world?" Just as we all know people who do not seem to deserve the bad things that happen to them, we can all list some pretty rotten people who have had some good things happen to them. It seems that those bad people do not deserve those good things. Before we get upset with God for letting some good things happen to bad people, let us consider our own situation. If we were honest, many of us would have to admit we were “bad people” at some point in our lives. During those periods of bad behavior, God still chose to give us good experiences. It was often those good experiences that God used to help us overcome our bad behavior. Therefore, once again we must be thankful to a good God who chose to give us good things even when we were being bad.

I am not sure I will ever be able to answer all these questions adequately. But I know that I agree with Pastor Gould’s conclusion that "God is good." Even when I do not understand everything that is happening in my life, or in the lives of those I care about, I can trust in the goodness of God.

20 comments:

  1. I thought it was pretty well settled there are no good people.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well done sir. I hope my friends will take a couple of minutes to read this. It could give them some confidence when answering one of the most often asked questions. Thanks for expounding.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The Psalm writer asks the same question and gives an answer in Psalm 73.

    ReplyDelete
  4. That makes a lot of sense thank you for sharing!!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hey Terry, here's my super simplistic entire sermon on this one: 1) The devil causes the really bad things to happen, 2) God causes the really good things to happen - called "blessings," 3) If it's not #1 or #2, then the thing is a "test" or "trial" orchestrated by God to refine us, and bring us higher! Hope I'm not sounding too much like Oswald Chambers.

    ReplyDelete
  6. "And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28 (ESV)

    Some thoughts: Is cancer a bad thing? Is a heart attack a bad thing? Is the death of a child a bad thing? We would all most likely say yes, these are bad things. But, God uses bad things in our lives for good. When we maintain an eternal perspective on life, this fact becomes evident. Many times we find that God ordains what He hates to bring about that which He loves. As Christians it helps us to understand that God has us right were he wants us, and many times it is the "bad things" in our lives that bring about the most positive change and good. I think of the book, "The Hiding Place." Correy ten Boom's sister, Betsie, was praising God for the flea infested area where they slept. Corrie was shocked to hear this prayer, yet Betsie thanked God in the midst of the "hell" that they were in. As it turns out, because of the fleas, the supervisors did not enter this area, which allowed Betsie and Corrie to share the Gospel with hundreds of woman without fear of being caught.
    So I guess what I am trying to say is this. When bad things come our way in life, embrace them with great anticipation of how God will use these trials for our good, and His Glory.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Terry - I truly appreciate this article. Pastor Gould has delivered a reasonable response to this inquiry and I will certainly learn from his and your wisdom on this. I hear this question repeatedly and, like you, struggled to find an adequate answer. I believe that this is very succinct. Thank you for posting this, it provides both comfort and conviction. I wish you and yours a very merry Christmas.

    ReplyDelete
  8. These are all great comments. I'm grateful to each person who is willing to think about this issue. The answers are not always easy because we tend to want to answer them from a human perspective. But answers about God must come from God's perspective. When viewed from God's perspective, things make a lot more sense.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Actually, a better question is why do good things ever happen to sinful people.

    ReplyDelete
  10. As one dealing with the stress of seeing my little girl struggle with her health & my mom's life slowly come to an end... I feel the pain and heartache... I appreciate what you shared.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Nobody likes problems. So why in the world would the Bible tell us to “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds” (James 1:2)?

    Because (James goes on), “you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:3-4). God is keenly interested in our character, and will use hard times to mold that character.

    Sorry, but I had to add to your question about bad things to good people. My opinion.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Chuck,
    Thanks for sharing. It is so hard to watch those was love go through pain. If God was NOT good, we'd be in even worse shape.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Ace,
    Thanks for adding your thoughts to this conversation. It helps us think this issue through from a variety of view points.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Good article, Pastor Gould properly redirects the question to "why do good things happen to bad people" - any one of us. People have to deal with horrible things inflicted on them by other people and they want reasons why God allows it. Given the capacity of the human heart for evil, it is more remarkable that things aren't much worse than they are, that there is as much restraint in the world as there is. God's grace is all we have.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hi Terry, I really enjoyed your blog about why bad things often happens to good people. I had my share of "why God?" days, mostly in the first couple of years after *****'s accident. I can't say I was ever angry with God the way other members of my family were, but was quite heartbroken and just couldn't understand "why"??? Another mom in our church had also lost a child, a baby of crib death shared with me that her Grandmother had scolded her when she was in the Why me mode... Now this grandmother had lost two children, a grandchild, a husband and parents and was a very faithful lady.. She said "why not you??" "whatever makes you think that you are so special that you should be spared any of the heartache that others have endured since the days of Adam and Eve. Her words felt a little cruel at the time, but I wasn't able to let them go....

    It was those words that helped me to let go of the "why me?" questions. I often share them when I'm spending time with others who have had trials and are stuck in that place.... although I try to be a little gentler in my approach :) I always say... if not me? Then who? Who is so evil that they deserve such pain or so good that they deserve to be spared all pain...... and I remind them that there are some questions that won't be answered this side of Heaven. I can't wait to learn what good God was able to do because of my loss :)

    ReplyDelete